Emma Thompson Doesn't Know How She Adapted Jane Austen's “Sense and Sensibility” into an Oscar-Winning Screenplay
- - Emma Thompson Doesn't Know How She Adapted Jane Austen's “Sense and Sensibility” into an Oscar-Winning Screenplay
Victoria EdelJanuary 1, 2026 at 6:30 PM
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Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant in 'Sense and Sensibility' (left); Emma Thompson with her Oscar for 'Sense and Sensibility' (left) -
Emma Thompson opened up about adapting Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility into the 1995 film of the same name
The actress said she's not sure, looking back, how she did it and that at the time it felt like "plagiarism"
The film turns 30 this December
Emma Thompson’s 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is now a classic — but her feelings when adapting Jane Austen’s classic novel were more mixed.
Thompson appeared on the Dec. 16 episode of the BBC Bookclub podcast to talk about Sense and Sensibility in honor of Austen’s 250th birthday. She also discussed how she adapted the movie, which was released 30 years ago this December and directed by Ang Lee. In addition to writing the script, which won the Oscar for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), she also starred in the movie as Elinor Dashwood.
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From left: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Gemma Jones in 'Pride and Prejudice'
During the discussion, a fan asked, “When you were writing the screenplay, did you ever find yourself arguing with Jane Austen in your head about what she really meant? Or did you sort of apologize in advance and just get on with it?”
“I did a lot of apologizing,” Thompson, 66, admitted. “I thought, ‘God this is just plagiarism, plane and simple. I’m just taking something and making it into something else.’ ”
She continued, “You know, I felt quite diffident about it. I really did.”
But she said now looking back at it, she’s amazed by the choices she made. “I read it now and I think, ‘I don’t know how I did that, actually,’ ” she said. “I don’t because an awful lot of the dialogue is not hers, because we had to invent so many things. Yes, one did feel very apologetic.”
“But of course, all of this was pointed out to me in no uncertain terms by the Jane Austen Society in America, who disapproved hugely,” she said of the many changes between book and screen. “They disapproved of so many things.”
The person in the audience pointed out one scene that was cut that she thought they’d be angry about: a scene where Mr. Willoughby, Marianne’s caddish suitor, comes to see her when she’s ill.
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Emma Thompson (left) and Kate Winslet in 'Sense and Sensibility'
Thompson nodded as her husband Greg Wise jokingly yelled out, “That’s my question!” Wise, 59, played Willoughby, and the pair met on the set of the film.
Thompson’s screenplay win made her the first person to win Oscars for both acting (for 1992’s Howard’s End) and writing; she remains the only person to have done so.
Sense and Sensibility also starred Kate Winslet as Marianne, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars, Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon, Imogen Stubbs as Lucy Steele, Gemma Jones as Mrs. Dashwood, Harriet Walter as Fanny Dashwood, James Fleet as John Dashwood, Hugh Laurie as Mr. Palmer and Imelda Staunton as Charlotte Palmer. The movie made $135 million at the box office and was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture and acting nods for Thompson and Winslet (who would star in Titanic two years later).
Sense and Sensibility was Austen’s first published work, released in 1811. A new adaptation of the novel is in the works, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Thompson also flexed her screenwriting skills on 2005’s Pride and Prejudice, where she came in to punch up some of the dialogue, specifically a now-beloved scene where Charlotte Lucas, played by Claudie Blakley, makes a plea to Elizabeth Bennet, played by Keira Knightley, to not judge her for her engagement to Mr. Collins, played by Tom Hollander.
Director Joe Wright told PEOPLE in April, “She improvised that scene as I wrote down what she was improvising. She was playing both parts, and I remember when she turned and said, 'Don't judge me. Don't you dare judge me,' I almost wept."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
